Affiliate Programs

The Internet is full of companies prepared to pay you to sell their products for them. The vast majority are US based but can be used worldwide. Many countries, in particular the UK, are beginning to catch up. For a list of the best UK schemes, click here

If you already have a website, add a few links to the most relevant. If you haven’t got a site, create one on an interest or hobby.

These programs cost nothing to sign up and you usually earn between 10% and 50% on sales, or a flat fee on each visitor or each person who downloads a particular piece of software, often free downloads. Some don’t allow you to sign up for similar companies eg only one bookshop link allowed and others won’t pay out until you reach a certain amount of commission, which may be quite high. Check the small print and ensure commission isn’t lost if you fail to reach the minimum required in a set period.

In virtually all cases you will receive a choice of banners to place on your site, together with cut and paste HTML. You may also get a replica site to promote.

Whilst some companies operate their own affiliate programs, you can also sign up with a selection of companies under an affiliate agency, with all your earning from each company being amalgamated into one monthly commission cheque. However the best paying opportunities are not usually run through these agencies, and you are unlikely to earn more than 10% per order compared to between 25% and 50% more typically seen on sites providing information and services through their own program.

For the highest commission rates, consider eBooks. With negligible production costs, you can expect commission of around 50%. To quickly find publications or software linked to your site, do a search in the box below. All are available through Clickbank.

Affiliate Agencies

Rather than reaching a minimum payment threshold and getting a separate payment from each individual company, in most cases you can sign up with an agency and get one payment covering all programs you are promoting. The majority of agencies offer products and services aimed primarily at US residents. Whilst they will accept affiliates from other countries, your site will need to attract US residents to generate any income. There are however also sites that cater for other countries, particularly the UK and parts of Western Europe plus Australia.

International Visitors

Commission Junction- US company with hundreds of affiliate programs to choose from – mainly US based but with a growing number of companies featured from elsewhere, particularly the UK and Germany. Choice of 30 currencies including pounds, euros and dollars for payment.

ClixGalore - Mix of primarily UK, Australian and US programs, but includes programs from other countries, all paying in local currency – pay per lead or per sale.

Check My Stats is another with strong UK and Australian programs, in addition to US, with a large proportion of pay per lead programs.

OffersQuest.com – Although a US site, paying in dollars, this affiliate network offers probably the highest payouts anywhere for pay per lead programs. Most are geographically targeted and particularly suited to sites with a US bias, especially for visitors interested in completing surveys and taking part in sweepstakes or claiming freebies. What makes this one particularly rewarding is that any visitors that don’t meet the geographical criteria don’t just get rejected, but are diverted to other offers, at least some of which will be relevant to their country.

ModernClick.com – One of the best sites for “pay per lead” programs.

Zanox.com is probably the most multi-national of all agencies with offices and programs from all the following countries:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA

Fineclicks.com review all merchants to ensure the quality and convertability of their offers before they are considered eg landing pages must be professionally designed without excessive popups, co regs, and no third-party advertisements that can draw your referred user away from the landing page to sign up for something that you do not get credit for. They offer you a wide range of tools to optimize your revenue with as many creatives as possible including banners, buttons, email creatives, popups, popunders, very short email links, sub id tracking and much more. If you need a special creative, they will do their best to create it for you.

ShareaSale is a large international network offering over 2000 programs – pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-click programs.

In addition to the above agencies, consider the following if your visitors are predominantly from one country:

US Visitors

LinkShare – over 600 merchants in its affiliate network, mainly physical goods for US dispatch only. Top brand names include Dell, Apple, Avon, Wal-mart and American Express. UK and Japanese offices newly opened

Performics.com- Owned by DoubleClick, similar content to Linkshare with around 200 well known brands on offer.

MaxBounty is a cost-per-action network launched a few years ago by an affiliate and merchant who was uninpressed by the small payouts made to affiliates by exisitng networks. MaxBounty accepts affiliates from all countries, but most offers are applicable only to US residents. Particularly suited to reward sites, with a huge number of free trial offers to sign up for.

UK Visitors

Trade Doubler - European Company with UK department for UK companies with a wide range of UK plans to choose from. Excellent commission packages.

Affiliate Future is a newish UK agency, with a minimum payout of just £20, and a wide range of offers, many paying a commission on visits and signups, rather than purely on sales.

Affiliate Window – Wide selection of UK programs to choose from.

Paid On Results is another recent entry to this sector with a rapidly growing choice of programs to join, many of which pay on free signups. Pays out at £25.

OMGUK.com – High quality affiliate programs from household names in the financial and insurance sectors.

Netklix – Another new entrant with good range of UK sites not seen elsewhere.

Australian Visitors

www.commissionmonster.com.au/
http://dgmaustralia.com/

European Visitors

Trade Doubler – European Company with separate departments for around 16 different European countries, in the local language. Just sign up for the countries relevant to your site visitors.

http://www.affili.net – Affiliate Agencies with offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and UK

French affiliate networks with wide selection of affiliate programs from French companies. In French only unless otherwise stated.

http://www.cibleclick.com
http://www.promoaffiliate.com
http://www.publicidees.com/
http://web.click-fr.com/
http://www.effiliation.com – Site available in French, English and Spanish

http://www.vitrado.de/ – Well established German affiliate network.

For a comprehensive list of affiliate networks visit http://www.associateprograms.com/articles/228/1/Affiliate-networks-list

For more country specific information visit http://www.affiliate.in/

With hundreds of new companies being added every week, you can be sure that whatever the topic of your website, there will be a relevant affiliate program for you. If you can’t find a suitable program, e-mail me with details of your site and I’ll find the perfect one for you.